Right now, AA guns are awful.they fire relatively slowly, overheat fast, and only have 20 rounds. The only thing it has going for it is the damage, right? They can’t even one shot paratroopers,usually taking around 3 bullets per soldier to kill.this is rediculous, why does a 20mm bullet to the chest not instantly kill a person, when with that logic shooting at those same people with a panzer 2 or hell even a bolt action would one shot them.the HMG does not have these glaring issues and there are only a few downsides to them. The benefits of using it over AA is that you can put many many more rounds into the enemy with a fire rate similar to or higher than the ROF of the AA gun, damage that is very similar to the AA guns, no magazine hindering your progress, and when you are done with the plane you can aim at ground targets. The disadvantages are that they can only be made with MG squads (AA guns need to be on normal engie squads so this might be considered an upside), they have a limited angle of fire (but can aim at the ground). The HMG even has a lead marker for planes, so there is no reason to use an AA gun over this unless you refuse to run an MG squad(I’m pretty sure premium squads can make HMGs). If the planes comes in from another angle, wait for it to come back into the angle you set it up on the release your volley of bullets into his fuselage and watch him plummet. AA guns need rework to make them viable to use over something not intended to do that role, I suggest massively increasing damage, as DF is refusing once again to do something historically accurate in order for “balance” and let us aim at ground targets.if you are not going to do this, then at least give more powerful AA guns at T4 and 5 as those planes have an absurd amount of armour and are near impossible to take down,like the 4 barrel flak gun for Germany,the turret of the M13 for the allies, and for russia and Japan I have no idea what they could get.
In my opinion, in the area of performance against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns are fine as they are. They can shoot down most aircraft without any problem. It takes a little trickery, but a little difficulty is necessary because if it is too easy, the aircraft will be useless.
The paratroopers’ ability to withstand 20mmflak is certainly a problem and needs to be corrected.
By the way, we need to carefully consider how to balance this against aircraft, but I would love to see the Quad AAs that we had in the past in the game again.
I would like to see the Quad AAs that we had in the past in the game again, which are more powerful against aircraft but difficult to use for long periods of time due to installation and ammunition supply, or if they are used for a long period of time, they require a dedicated engineering unit with high manpower cost, etc. Well, I would like DF to think of some good balance adjustment.
It could be something that can be built by squads after Engineer III, and the squads that can do it should have a minimum BR of 3, or some such adjustment might be necessary.
I think it would be interesting to have high rank AA, each faction has its own unique features.
U.S.A.
Japan
I don’t know if the Soviets have anything similar, but, well, who knows?
Yeah normal AA is fine in BR1 to 2 and it is okay at 3,but beyond that is a nightmare to deal with.
the AA of USSR have just 7 rounds 
Yikes 
. Also why is my quote in Chinese?
cause he quote ur text while using the browser translate
(fun fact: the text in quote can be edit or concoct)
Oh, my God.
97 KM
In my experience a single AA can basicly shut down the entire airspace for the enemy.
AA is not really weak it is just certain planes somehow are way to tanky/ have a bugged damage modell while the rest are downed in 1 to 3 shots by the AA.
No, it’s just that the later planes are metal clad and generally more durable, unlike the early planes.
For example obviously the sbd and ju 87 would be less resistant to damage than the p 47 and ju 188.
They’ve conversely made the planes very weak amongst themselves - the ju188 now dies with literally a single browning 12.7 machine gun burst
the AA is somewhat in weird place atm.
It does the job but if the enemy passes low enough you can pretty much do the same with any rifle caliber hand gun.
Probably downed more planes lately with rifle calibers by hitting engine than with AA.
this is what I mean,I remember hit in critical spots who should make you fall down (like in most of planes break the tail in two) and they keep flying…
Having AA guns on engineer squads is another downside, considering the lackluster build options those have. Whereas you can put an MG on most squads through the tree.
Firing at ground units would be 100% fine by me and make AA cannons more viable. However, it would remove all counterplay that airplanes have. If you fly low enough right now, enemy AA will be unable to hit you in the distance as the cannon can’t be tilted that far down.
But if you can aim the cannon all the way at infantry, it can also hit planes at any altitude.
Now, to get to your point: Machine guns already do not have that restriction. The question thus is: Are MGs already too powerful against aircraft if it has no counterplay against them?
Being able to direct fire the AA guns would be absolutely amazing!
Firing at ground units would be 100% fine by me and make AA cannons more viable
aa guns are to shoot down planes, make them better at that but do not make them able to attack ground targets